Association of Corporate Travel Executives president Douglas Weeks today during ACTE's Global Education Conference in Washington, D.C., announced the results of a new survey of 110 of its corporate travel buyer members on the impact of the economic downturn on meetings spending, which he said was more severe even than the impact on business travel.
He said 60 percent of the respondents said they would hold meetings in more expensive destinations rather than less-expensive leisure or resort destinations. Weeks said he was concerned that buyers might "bypass lower-cost meeting opportunities" because of negative perceptions, potentially costing business travel buyers billions in additional costs.
The study also showed that 58 percent of respondents expect current financial conditions to cause long-term and fundamental changes.
Weeks also said he was particularly troubled by a finding that 75 percent of respondents said that they restricted participation in professional conferences, which he said could contribute to an "intellectual depression."
He said that the potential increase in costs and decrease in communications would amount to "a cost to the industry that is incalculable."
While he said that some forms of travel that have been eliminated or reduced will return, it would not be at the same level but at a new normal, as companies discover new cost savings and value during this time.
Despite his concerns, he also said that he expected this period to foster more mergers between internal travel and meetings departments.